Church Street Historic District

Church Street looking north

The Church Street Historic District is an area in Saranac Lake that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It extends roughly along Church Street from Main Street to St. Bernard Street. It comprises twenty-seven buildings including three churches, a medical laboratory, ten homes, two libraries, and six Cure Cottages, most built between the late 1870s and 1900. ¹

Church Street is one of the five original streets of the village, connecting River Street to Main Street. Most of the buildings have features reflecting their use as cure cottages by residents suffering from tuberculosis, especially the "cure porches" where patients were exposed daily, year round, to as much fresh air as possible.

<tbody>|-/n|Building||Old Address||New Address||Notes|/n|-/n|

, c. 1880

||2 Church St.||118 Church St.||Queen Anne-style cure cottage. Together with the Werle Cottage, it was operated as a commercial private sanatorium by two women who had become friends while curing at the Meagher Cottage|/n|-/n|

, 1879

||4 Church St.||102 Church St.||A Gothic Revival style church designed by R.M. Upjohn and built by R. Eugene Woodruff, it was Saranac Lake's first church.  In the early years the interior was very plain, with no carpeting, no choir stalls, and minimal furnishings.|/n|-/n|

. 1894

||5 Church St.||118 Main St.||Colonial Revival residence designed by J. Lawrence Aspinwall for his cousin, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, the founder of the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium; a fire had destroyed Trudeau's 1884 home and laboratory on the same site.|/n|-/n|

, 1899-1900

||6 Church St.||94 Church St.||The home of Dr. [R. Baldwin], the director of the [Laboratory], and, later, the chair of the executive committee of the [Sanatorium].  Designed by William L. Coulter|/n|-/n|

, 1894

||7 Church St.||89 Church St.||Designed by J. Lawrence Aspinwall, this was the first laboratory in the United States built exclusively for research on tuberculosis.. Presently the home of Historic Saranac Lake.|/n|-/n|

, c. 1882

||8 Church St.||88 Church St.||This Dutch Colonial Revival house was built for  [M. Lea], one of the original trustees of the [Cottage Sanitarium]. His wife was a very early patient of Dr. E. L. Trudeau.|/n|-/n|

pre-1895

||12 Church St.||82 Church St.||The Queen Anne-style residence of Dr. [Kendall], who started as a local pharmacist and became the first president of the [Lake National Bank].|/n|-/n|

c. 1880; remodeled 1917

||14 Church St.||78 Church St.||The home of Dr. Hugh M. Kinghorn, who dramatically remodelled the Queen Anne style house into a Tudor Revival residence that was also used as his office. Designed by Scopes and Feustmann.|/n|-/n|

, 1889

||16 Church St.||72 Church St.||William H. Madden was  one of six brothers who immigrated from Ireland. He moved to Saranac Lake, and began a delivery business that has grown to become [Transfer and Storage].|/n|-/n|

, c. 1880

||17 Church St.||73 Church St.|| Anthony B. Gedroiz was a family doctor in Saranac Lake from at least 1938 through at least 1971. He was a son of [Gedroiz], who came to Saranac Lake to [[1]]. He served as health officer for Saranac Lake.|/n|-/n|

1925-27

||19 Church St.||63 Church St.||Gothic Revival-style stone church designed by Charles W. Bolton & Son, Architects, of Philadelphia. When it was built, its name was the "First Methodist Episcopal
Church." ²|/n|-/n|

, 1880

||23 Church St.||57 Church St.||Built by J.J. O'Connell, The church held its first organizational meeting on July 25, 1890, when, "Twelve persons were received by letter from the Presbyterian Church of Black Brook and five on profession of faith."  |/n|-/n|

, 1895

||104 Main St.||115 Main St.||Colonial Revival house extensively remodeled in1907 by Scopes and Feustmann. Dr. Lawrason Brown was the Resident Physician at the Trudeau Sanatorium and an internationally known specialist in tuberculosis.|/n|-/n|

, before 1879

||108 Main St.||121 Main St.|| According to the [TB Directory], the cottage had room for nine patients, with two [porches]. It was run by Mrs. [Conklin]. Dr. [Leetch], a tuberculosis doctor, had an office here|/n|-/n|

, c. 1880

||110 Main St.||129 Main St.||Together with the Werle Town House, it was operated as a commercial private sanatorium by two women who had become friends while curing at the Meagher Cottage|/n|-/n|

, 1910

||116 Main St.||133 Main St.||The Colonial Revival residence of Virginian Dr. Woods Price, who came to Saranac Lake for his health. He was Dr. Trudeau's own physician. He lived and practiced at [Main Street]. He was president of the [Hospital] for more than 17 years.|/n|-/n|

. c. 1930

||118 Main St.||139 Main St.|| |/n|-/n|

, 1891

||119 Main St.||136 Main St.||Designed by Lawrence Aspinwall, St. Luke's Parish House served as the [County Library] for fifteen years starting in 1892 and was renamed the Adirondack Library.|/n|-/n|

, c. 1893

||121 Main St.||142 Main St.||Designed by Lawrence Aspinwall, the house was rented to Dr. [G. Rambaud], who lived in the house and operated his practice there as well. |/n|-/n|

, pre-1895

||123 Main St.||148 Main St.|| |/n</tbody>

See also

• Berkeley Square Historic District
• Cottage Row Historic District
• Helen Hill Historic District
• Highland Park Historic District
• Trudeau Sanatorium Historic District
• New York Central Adirondack Division Historic District
• Cure Cottages

Source

•  National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (pdf)
• Charles Bolton Churches, Philadelphia Athenaeum. Call #RBC Oversize, NA5210.B66 1910.

1. 1. Comments

1. 1. Footnotes

1. "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Church Street Historic District"
2. Charles Bolton Churches, Philadelphia Athenaeum. Call #RBC Oversize, NA5210.B66 1910.